What I Was Thinking (Sort Of)
I wanted to paint winter. Not festive winter. Not cozy winter. The kind that bites and doesn’t apologize.
Gaelan the Valiant from Archvillain Games felt like the right figure for it. He’s standing on a rock above a frozen pond, weapons still bloody, posture steady. Not triumphant. Just… present. The fight already happened. You don’t get to see it. You just see what’s left.
This was my first snow diorama, and I didn’t want it to feel decorative. The snow had to matter. It had to feel cold against the rock, settled across the frozen pond, clinging to his boots and beard like it had been there for hours. I wanted that contrast – red against white, steel against frost, motion against stillness.
The resin pond underneath came out clean, clear, and cooperative for once. No drama. I’m getting better at resin pours, and that quiet confidence shows here. The ice feels solid. The surface feels sealed. The world feels frozen in place.
What I Learned (Or Didn’t)
Snow is tricky. Too soft and it looks like cake frosting. Too grainy and it looks like gravel pretending to be winter.
I experimented with different homemade textures, tested a few ideas that absolutely did not work, and eventually landed on the simplest solution – baking powder and white glue. Cheap, messy, and honestly kind of perfect. It gave me the texture I wanted without overcomplicating things. Sometimes the low-tech answer wins.
I also felt a shift in idea generation. I didn’t overbuild the base. I trusted the scene. Rock. Ice. Snow. Blood. Enough. That restraint is something I’m learning slowly, and this piece proves it’s sticking.
Painting-wise, things felt more controlled. The frost effects, the balance of red and white, the weight of the shadows – it all came together without fighting me too much. That doesn’t mean it was easy. It just means I’m improving.
The Snow Remembers isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. The battle already happened.
The cold stayed.
